Forgetting Yourself
by AshleighAishwarya
Summary: A long time ago, they met in one of her art galleries. They got engaged, but she couldn't take the loneliness. He had loved her still, but now he's forgotten her. He tries to remember her, for she's the only one he could ever trust. But what happens when she realizes who started the 2nd outbreak? Will she make sure that he doesn't forget himself or watch him die?
1. Prologue

**Hello, Prototype fans! I come with my first Prototype fan-fic entitled "Forgetting Yourself". This has been in production for almost a year now, and I'm glad I can finally write this :)This takes place during the first and second game, so it's not entirely AU either.  
**

**This is a romance (if you follow me, then you would have guessed it lol) that features my OC, Sarabelle Elaine Richards. Now, we all have no idea of Mercer's loving side, so bear with me!**

**You can go to my profile, under "Other Websites" and find a link to my deviantART page for the teasers and (failed) drawings about this story that helped me fuel my creativity for this story!**

**Enjoy the prologue for now!**

_**Summary: They met in one of her art galleries. They got engaged, but she couldn't take the loneliness. He still loves her, but now he's forgotten her, yet tries to remember, for she's the only one he could ever trust. But what happens when she realized who started the 2nd outbreak? She has to try her best to remind him that no matter what, he mustn't forget himself. But that might be too late, since he had already lost his faith in Humanity.**_

_**Genre: Romance, Action, Angst**_

* * *

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Alex Mercer's Apartment  
Years before the events of Prototype 1  
9:07pm**

I wished I could keep my whole focus on this sketch, but it was… kind of impossible. Not when the most handsome man in the world was sitting at his dining table, eyes glued his laptop, and working hard like the genius doctor he was. While I was here, sitting on the sofa, pencil and sketch book in hand. Either way, it was not much of a distraction: he was my sketch! I grinned like a moron as I worked on my artwork.

"Babe?" I called out.

"Hm?"

"What'cha doing?" I said causally.

"Oh, just looking at these reports on these samples that demonstrated inquisitive behavior, including mimicry and preservation of genetic statistics from its infected hosts." He answered coolly, as if it was an everyday-reply.

His eyes were still attached to the screen so he only turned to see my utterly-confused face when I didn't answer him back immediately. "So… you're working?"

He smiled sweetly at me. "Yes, my little artist. I'm working."

"Oh." I gave him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, babe."

"It's alright. I get carried away sometimes. Kinda forget that I'm at home right now, and not in a cramped environment." He admitted, scratching the back of his head embarrassingly.

I giggled. "There's a major difference, remember: _I'm _around."

"And I'm glad you are." He grinned at me. "What are _you _doing this time?"

"Oh, just a sketch. I'm almost finished." I looked at my sketch once again and added one last detail.

"Oh?" He closed the laptop. "Do I get the first look?" He got up from his seat, and walked up to me.

"You always do." I pointed out. "And I think you might like this one." I removed my feet from the sofa and sat upright. He sat beside me and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I presented him the sketch book and he chuckled at it.

"Ha! 'Warning: Highly intelligent and highly good-looking doctor at work'," He read out the caption I had written under the sketch of him working on his laptop at his dining table. Needless to say, I just drew out what I had just seen him doing. "And… do I always give that stern look when I'm working?"

"Well, don't take it as something bad." I leaned in with a seductive look on my face. "I happen to find it _very, very _intriguing." I pulled back.

"Ooh. Well, in that case…" He handed me back the sketch book. "I love it, Belle. It's wonderful when you do little sketches of me every now and then. Actually…" He thought about it. "You do it almost every time you don't have a big project."

"Au contraire, my loving genius. I do have a big project that I'm working on." I said, cupping his chin. "This little sketch is like… a preview. Like inspiration." I kept my pencil and sketch book on the coffee table in front of us.

"Or…" He had another thought on his mind. "It was just an excuse because you wanted me to give you this:" Then, he placed his hands on my cheeks, leaned in and gave me a surprise kiss on my lips. Once again, he sent me to outer space with his kiss.

When he pulled back, I blinked repeatedly, trying to get my head together. "Wow… if a simple sketch gets me a kiss… will coloring it get me a homemade dinner?" I asked.

He laughed out loud. "Color or not, you will get it. Tomorrow? A nice, romantic dinner, cooked by yours truly." He took one of my hands and wrapped an arm around me again.

"It's a date, Dr. Mercer." I grinned.

"Don't be late, Miss Richards."

"Look who's talking!" I chided, hitting his chest playfully.

Laughing at each other, he let me rest my head on his chest as he stroked my hair lovingly. I could only smile as I felt his touch. I giggled softly when he kissed my hair. And my heart jumped all over the place when he whispered, "I love you, Belle."

These words slipped out of my mouth instantly. "I love you too."


	2. Destroyed Memories

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

"'_Sarabelle'? Now that is very unique."_

"_Well, I've been told." _

"_So what do people usually call you? 'Sara' or 'Belle'?"_

"'_Sara', mostly. No one's actually tried to call me 'Belle'."_

"_Really? Well, I guess that's about to change, if you'll permit me, Miss Richards." _

"_Ah, I see. Tell you what: since it's you, Dr. Mercer, and I'm starting to like you, you get to call me that." _

_**I'd like to consider myself lucky: extremely lucky to have met Belle. Was it fate? Maybe. Was it fate for us to end up where we were now? No. That was my fault… I let the growing monster in me overtake me. **_

_**Many years ago, a colleague of mine had a picture of his wife and son in his office. The best part was: the picture was actually a painting, done by a lone woman. The details were exquisite, very realistic. He told me he was going to her art show in a few days, and I just had to go and see what else this mysterious painter had in her gallery. **_

_**Never was I expecting to see a red-haired beauty, who would eventually be the one who stole my heart. **_

_**Her name was Sarabelle Elaine Richards, and she was an independent artist.**_

* * *

**Location: Alex Mercer's apartment, Renalia Building, Upper East Side, Manhattan  
May 12****th****, 2007  
2:43am  
(Before the first outbreak)**

"Jesus Christ- Belle! It's almost 3 the morning! What are you doing up so late?"

"I could ask the same thing about you, Alex."

He massaged his forehead. "Yeah… sorry about that. Work kinda distracted me today. You know how it is."

"No, Alex. I'm afraid I don't know anymore," She leaned against the chair, wearing the most disappointed expression on her face. Mercer got a good look at her. She had been crying, as evidenced by the blacken tears down her cheeks caused by her mascara. She was wearing a silky red dress, one to match her fiery hair that had been tied to a bun. "I also don't know if you're you anymore."

Mercer narrowed his eyes at her, slightly confused. "Belle… Are we going at this again? You know I didn't mean to do this to you!"

"I know you didn't! But this has been happening way too many times!" Sarabelle Richards got to her feet in an instant. "Every single _time_, I forgave you for standing me up or forgetting something because I knew that work has you in this… in this vice grip. I would always tell myself 'hey, it's okay. You know he doesn't mean it'. But now… I'm starting to think you're taking advantage of my forgiving nature."

"What?" Mercer shook his head at her, dumping his briefcase on the coffee table in front of them. "Belle, I'm not! You know I would never take advantage of you! So I missed a dinner we had planned. I'm _sorry_. You know I didn't mean it."

She faked a smile, and massaged her neck briefly to keep her from spilling her emotions everywhere. "You have no idea what you're doing to me, to you? Let me give you two examples that are leading me to the state that I am in, Alex. One: two months ago, you told me to get ready because you wanted to take me out for our 4 year anniversary of the day we met. I told you, 'no, it's okay, we don't have to, it wasn't necessary' but _you _were hell-bent on going out. And what'd you do? You stand me up," She said, frustration in her eyes. "Okay. Never mind that," She held up both hands, now making her way to him. "What about today? You told me to get ready to leave at 7:30 because you wanted to take me out for my damned _birthday_."

It then hit him in that head of his. He slapped himself on the forehead. "Holy-"

She left more tears coming on, but tried her best to conceal them. "Okay, so you had a long day of working. I'm not even asking for a phone call, Alex. It takes less than 30 seconds to send a fucking text…"

"Belle," He reached for her hand, but she quickly pulled away. "I can't tell you how _sorry _I am-"

"No," She locked her deep green eyes with his silver-blue ones. "You can't. Because you've run out of ways to say sorry to me, and frankly, I'm _tired _of hearing your sorrys. I knew the nature of your job, Alex. So when you asked me to marry you, I wanted to know if you could really commit to me just like you promised you would. You did commit to me, but that was before you proposed to me! And now? Is _this _the state you're going to leave me in after we get married?" She was asking all of these questions, but Sarabelle herself didn't know if she wanted answers.

"So what are you saying?" Mercer asked, perhaps waiting for the worst.

She broke away from his gaze and looked at her feet. "I've already dumped my things in my car."

"Belle, no!" He quickly took her hands.

And this time she did not pull away. "I'm sorry, Alex. But this has gone too far. You promised me you'd make me your top priority, and though I didn't think that could happen for sure, I wanted to give you the benefit of doubt because I knew you wanted to try. But you stopped trying. And I'm tired of being the only one who wants to make this relationship work. It takes two, Alex, but you're never here."

His heart was breaking at her words. "I brought this on myself, didn't I?"

Sympathetically, she reached up to run her left hand past his cheek. "I don't mean to do this to you, Alex, but I'm sorry. I can't take the loneliness anymore. I can't take the broken promises anymore either." At that moment, she realized that she was still wearing his engagement ring. Pulling her hand away, she proceeded to remove it from her finger. She pressed it into Mercer's hand, who reluctantly accepted it.

"And you were a saint for putting up with me all this while," He commented, looking at her in the eye once more. "Thanks for giving me the best years of my life. Really."

She smiled at him, although her streaming tears were evidence of her own sorrow. "You're welcome." Leaning in, she gave him a kiss on his cheek, one that Mercer would try his best to hang on for as long as possible. "Good luck to you, Alex. Continue being the genius that you truly are."

He gave her a half-smile. "And you keep on drawing, Belle. You know you're a genius yourself."

She smiled once more, and turned her head to the coffee table, nodding her head at a small sketch book. It was light blue in color, with white outlines. "I was going to give that to you for your birthday, but I guess you should have it now. You can do whatever you want to it; I'll be fine with it." Glancing back at him once more, she said, "See ya."

"Take care, Belle."

And he watched as she walked out of his apartment.

Mercer turned his attention to the sketch book, and decided to flip the pages for the heck of it. What was contained in it? Sketches – both pencil and colored of Alex Mercer himself, with the occasional Sarabelle in there. She even threw in some captions like _'The first time I ever saw your face'_ or _'Doctor Mercer hard at work'_ to make sense of some of the drawings.

Memories… that was what this sketch book was all about. There were supposed to be more of these memories - future ones, to be precise… but now, they were all destroyed.


	3. Sarabelle

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Manhattan, New York  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1) **

_This Sarabelle… bits and pieces of us are coming back to me but… gah, I still don't have enough! I only saw a glimpse of her in that art show back in the green zone… She, I… We were close. But who is she, really? I need to know. These little memory flashes… they're telling me that she can be trusted. Maybe she can help me. Maybe she can come with me. I could use someone right now…_

_Dana doesn't need me anyway. She needs a brother… not a monster. Ragland can take care of her. _

Alex Mercer gazed over Times Square from a tall building. In his hands, was a light blue sketch book with white outlines. It was miracle that it survived the explosion back at his apartment along with Mercer himself. He didn't even go looking for it; it was right there, under the pictures he had mounted on his wall, like he was looking at the book prior to his death.

When he finally managed to catch even a fraction of a second to himself, he looked at the book's contents and once again, he was hit by memories. He did not get a chance to look through the whole book because the process was so painful. But he saw just enough to know that this woman's name was Sarabelle Elaine Richards, and that she was a part of his life.

Now that he had successfully sabotaged the scheduled nuclear attack on New York, maybe there was a chance to find her. "Okay. East Harlem. She said in that memory that she was going to stay with her father in East Harlem. Shit… the infection… I better get her out of there fast. If she's not already infected… God, I hope not…"

Not wanting to waste any more time, Mercer picked up his pace.

* * *

**Location: Apartments in East Harlem **

Looking through the acquired sketch book once more, he found one particular drawing with the caption _'Our second date in my apartment'. _Glancing at it, he knew _exactly _which apartment she was in.

Mercer knocked on the door after much hesitation. He was starting to think that this was maybe a bad idea. He had no idea when was the last time he even spoke to this woman, and now he was at her doorstep, wondering if she could decode a little more about his past and maybe even help him get back on the right track.

Sighing, he knocked on her door once more when there was no answer.

"Who is it?!"

Mercer heard a voice from behind the door. The tone of that voice was harsh, but there was also a hint of nervousness. But he didn't know it at that time, but it was actually pain. "Sarabelle Richards? My name's Alex Mercer. I believe you know me?"

He did not get an immediate reply. But when he did, she said, "Wha- Alex? Alex, is that really you? I-I don't- I thought you were dead!"

"Look, Sarabelle, there's so much I have to tell you. So much you need to know. I've come looking for you because I think you're the only one who can help me. So please, could you open this door? I swear, there's no one else out here. Really. You can trust me."

After a few good seconds, the door opened up… to reveal a red-headed, deep green-eyed woman, using one arm to clutch her abdomen. She was wearing black jeans with a slightly oversized grey hoodie that was zipped up to her chest. Her frightened expression calmed, and she was staring at Mercer with an awed one instead.

"Oh my God… Alex…"

He gave her the best smile he could muster. "Uh, hi. Could I come in?"

She nodded at him. "Yeah, sure. Please. Sorry about the mess. With the infection running around, I've been hiding out here all this time. I was more concerned about surviving this thing than keeping the place clean."

"Seems like a reasonable thing to do," However, her apartment did not seem all that bad to him. The living room was kept neat and tidy to his eyes. Once he entered the apartment, he turned to her as she shut the door. "So, you're Sarabelle. Huh. Finally nice to see you in person."

She arched an eyebrow at that. "Huh?"

"Oh! Right…" He mentally slapped himself. "Um, you see… a lot has happened during these few days. I kinda… lost my memory but I managed to remember you and I think you might be able to help me. Even if it's just the slightest bit. I would like to explain everything to you, but I think it's best if we get out of the city and to a safer place instead."

Sweat began to gather on her forehead. She winced, but it wasn't at what he said. "Alex, I'm sorry, but I'm super confused right now…" He watched as she began to take quick short breaths. "I mean, I thought you were dead and then… Blackwatch busts through my door and takes me back to one of their creepy-ass bases and starts bombarding me with questions…"

"Wait," He stopped her right there. "Blackwatch spoke to you? About me?"

"Yeah…" She took a deep breath this time. "It was scary. They kept asking me all these questions that I had no answers to…" She turned her head away for a brief moment.

And at that point, Mercer sensed something. "Hey, Sarabelle," He reached for her arm to make her turn her attention back to him. "What's wrong? You look so pale."

"Huh?" Now, she appeared to be dazed as more sweat trickled down her face. "No, it's nothing. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You're sweating like crazy," He placed a hand over her forehead. "And you've been clutching your abdomen all this time. Are you hurt?"

She shook her head at him. "No, I'm not. Really."

But he was not to be fooled. "Unzip the jacket."

"… I'd rather not…"

"Sarabelle. Unzip the jacket. Stop hiding." He said in a strict yet concerned manner. Her appearance was wondering him greatly. He did not want anything to happen to her so soon after finding her – a woman who was obviously once a huge part of his life.

"Alex, I swear," She smiled at him. "I'm fine!" But then, she turned towards her coffee table and placed a hand on it to support herself. "Now could you please tell me what's going on?"

Mercer opened his mouth and wanted to take a step forward, but glancing down, he saw drops of blood, _fresh _blood, on the floor, leading to Sarabelle. "Sarabelle…?"

Sarabelle had a look that said she gave up. "… Alex, I-"

Suddenly, she seemed to have lost control of her own body and fell forward, but Mercer, having anticipated that, grabbed her before she could land on her face. He took her gently into his arms as she began to close her eyes. Quickly, he unzipped the hoodie hastily and pushed it aside… only to see that blood was soaking through her tank top. He lifted up her top to see a poorly-bandaged scar across her stomach.

His mind raced. Mercer had no idea what to do for her. She needed to survive this. She _had _to! She was likely, the last person who could help him rediscover what it was like to be human once again. But what to do… what to do?

There was one thing he could try, but it was a hell of a long shot. He had never even tried it on anyone else before. But if it could help Sarabelle and keep her alive… it was worth a shot… or he would end up killing her. But as of now, she was as good as dead.

Morphing his right arm into a spear, Mercer drove it into her chest, the virus seeping into her heart.


	4. Be Human Again

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1) **

"_But-but-"_

"_No 'buts', Belle. You're moving in with me." _

"_Ha! Well, if you WANT me to so badly, how can I say no?" _

Sarabelle Elaine Richards, after much struggle, managed to crack open her eyes. She was staring at a ceiling, but it was not her own apartment ceiling. No, when she sat up, she was not in a familiar environment. Wherever she was, it was an enormous room, with minor furniture like chairs and tables, all in horrid condition. This appeared to be an abandoned warehouse. But how would she have come here?

"Hey. You're finally awake."

Sarabelle glanced up and was face-to-face with her ex-boyfriend, Alex Mercer. With an awed expression, she never took her eyes off him as he knelt down in front of her. "Alex… Where are we?"

"It's okay. We're still in Manhattan. It's an abandoned military base in Midtown East. The Blue Zone. There's not an infected soul for miles. We're safe." Mercer said with a little smile, shifting his weight onto both knees.

"Uh God…" She then buried her face into her hands. "What happened to me?"

"You passed out. From blood loss," He told her. "Of course, that wouldn't have happened if you had _told _me."

She looked at him. "Well, I'm sorry. I thought I was fine." She continued to hang her head low.

"Yeah well, in the future, please don't lie to me. You're probably the only one who can help me right now." He said. "And um… Sarabelle, there's something I gotta tell you-"

"Ugh! What the hell?!" She clutched her stomach. "What's going on with me- AH!" Stretching out her arms, she watched in horror as… something black and red… like _tentacles _slithered from her stomach up to her chest and then down her arms before morphing with them. She almost had tears in her eyes at that sight. "What the- what the fuck?!"

"Sarabelle, calm down-"

"Alex, what the fuck happened to me?" She demanded to know, inspecting her both the top her hands. She noticed that there was something… glowing red on them. It was actually red bioluminescent and it was glowing in a pretty cool design. "Alex?!"

Mercer struggled to tell her this but… "Sarabelle, I'm sorry. I had no choice…! I… infected you with the virus."

Her deep green eyes widened as much as possible. "WHAT?!" She almost screeched. "ALEXANDER J. MERCER, WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO TO ME?!" She slapped him on his chest.

"Sarabelle, come on!" He raised both hands in truce, hoping to calm her and explain his actions. "You were bleeding out. I _had _to save you somehow!"

"You could have redressed my wound, for better yet: left me to _die_!" She argued.

"Not with what's at stake."

She continued to stare at the bioluminescent on her hands. "What are you talking about? And why the hell am I not like one of those Walkers? Why am I still… me?"

"I don't know. I haven't done this to anyone before," He said honestly. "It was just a theory I had. If the virus reanimated my body, why shouldn't that same strain I'm carrying do the same for you? …I guess it worked. You look well now."

She doubled over, clutched her stomach. "Ugh, not entirely… and what the hell do you mean by 'reanimated my body'? What's at stake? What the hell's going on?"

Mercer knew his ex-girlfriend had many questions running through her mind. But he didn't know how to answer them without a few questions of his own. "There's so much I have to tell you, Sarabelle. _Way _too much. First off, I'm not Alex anymore. I'm the Blacklight virus. Nice to meet you."

He proceeded to telling her everything that he had experienced these few days, from the wakening at the morgue to the nuclear bomb sabotage. Sarabelle listened with much alertness and sometimes gave an occasional tear. Originally, Mercer was kneeling in front of Sarabelle while she knelt in front of him.

But now, they were still on the floor, but sitting together side by side. Mercer was just wrapping up the last of his story, causing the words to escape Sarabelle for a short time.

"Alex, this is… this is almost unnatural," She commented. "And you say that you lost _all _of your memories? Every little detail?"

He nodded solemnly. "Hell, I didn't even know I had a sister until I consumed that solider…"

"Well, if you forgot almost everything… then how did you remember me?" She questioned innocently.

He had the exact answer to that question. "It's because of this," From the inner pocket of his leather jacket, he brought out a familiar object – a light blue sketch book with white outlines. "It's a sketch book I found in my apartment, on a table under those framed pictures in my apartment. I was about to go through it then Blackwatch decided to blow up my apartment along with me in it. I didn't really get a chance look at it. I did, just a little, but those memory flashes… it hurt so much… And then once in the Green Zone… I saw you," He glanced at her, his silver-blue eyes sparkling at her. "In that art gallery and then it…"

"Triggered another memory? And it hurt?" She took a guess.

"Like a bitch…" He muttered. "I saw images of you flashing in my head. Then after I sabotaged the nuclear bomb, I finally got a chance to sit down and go through the sketch book. I'm about halfway there now."

Her eyes were fixed on the sketch book in his hands. "I didn't think you'd have kept it…"

"Sarabelle," He caught her gaze again. "I can tell by this book and all these memories that we were pretty close. How serious were we?"

She only had one answer for that. "We were engaged."

"Oh my God… are you serious? Really?"

She nodded at him. "You proposed to me on Valentine's Day."

"Well then, what happened to us?" He asked.

"Wait," She stopped him right there, wanting to ask a question of her own. "Before I go on, there's something _I _want to know. Why are you doing this?" She asked. "Why are you going through all this trouble, when you don't even know you can trust me? How sure can you be that I won't do what Karen Parker did to you?"

Mercer took a moment to analyze her question and looked at the sketch book in his hands. "Believe me, Sarabelle, I wish I could give you a straight answer but… this is the best I can give you right now: I shouldn't even be giving a shit about you, but I am. I am because all I can see are great memories with you. I see smiles, I hear laughter… I hear your voice telling me that you love me over and over again. Yes, I know I shouldn't be quick to judge… but I want to take that chance right now, especially when I _really _need someone in my life right now to help me understand how rejoin the human race once again. To tell me that I'm… still human…"

"Aw, Alex," She reached for his cheek, and then quickly pulled back, knowing that he might be uncomfortable. "Sorry… What makes you think you're not still human? You're here, aren't you?"

"Yeah, but that's thanks to the virus."

"Yeah but… you can still think. You can still make decisions. Hell, you still have _feelings _and you still have hope," She said to him in a gentle tone. "These and many other things make you human, Alex. Just because you now have superhuman abilities doesn't make you any less human."

Mercer glanced at his twiddling thumbs. "But somehow, I feel so… disconnected from the human race."

"Alex, look at me," She requested. "What happened back in Hope… those were the actions of other people. Those people? They don't know what it means to be human. You were trying to expose them all. And now? You've just saved so many innocent people from a terrible nuclear threat. If you ask me, that makes you even more human than you think."

He managed to smile just a little bit at her. "That's nice of you to say. Were you always like this?"

She giggled at him. "I'm an artist, Alex. I'm bound to be soulful."

They shared a little chuckle at that.

"So I've told you everything," He said. "Will you tell me about us so I can understand?"

Sarabelle smiled at him. "Well, before I start," She hesitantly took his hand and gave it a little squeeze. "I just want you to know that you can trust me fully. I would never do anything to betray you."

Mercer glanced down at their hands and looked up at her once again. "If I keep getting those painful memory flashes each time, then I know you're telling the truth," He said. "I just want another chance, Sarabelle, to be human again."

"Well then, I'll be more than happy to help you get that chance." She said with yet, another genuine smile that was slowly restoring his faith.


	5. Sorry

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
7:42pm  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1) **

"Okay. So, we met back in 2003. You came to one of my art galleries with a colleague of yours. You were intrigued by a portrait I did of him and his family and you 'wanted to see what else I had'. When I first saw you… I was… blown away."

"Blown away?"

"Ha, I wish I could give you a straight answer why, but I was. We got to talking, and we struck up a friendship. You wanted to call me 'Belle' and I didn't mind – because I was already attracted to you by that first meeting we had."

Alex Mercer shut his eyes and winced for a second. "… A green dress."

"Sorry?"

"You wore a green dress that day we first met. Knee-length, long-sleeved… The color matched your eyes flawlessly. You… you also tied your hair into a bun."

Sarabelle Richards was blinking at him in astonishment. "Not only do you remember, but you remember what I _wore_? Man, we're really getting somewhere."

He allowed himself to smile at that. "Go on."

"Well… you asked me to move in with you after 2 years. We were together for a total of 4. To me, everything was perfect, you know? I'd wake you up in the morning to go to work,"

"_Time to get up!" _

"_No…"_

"_Yes! Come on, Doctor Mercer. Get that cute ass out of bed and into the shower!" _

"We'd sometimes meet for lunch,"

"_Ha. Hey, Belle. Come by the office. Let's meet for lunch."_

"_I'll be there." _

"When you'd come back in the evenings, I could tell that you've had a bad day, but once you walk through that door, it's like every little bad thing disappeared and all you could do was smile."

"_Hey! You're back! Aw… I can tell someone's had a bad day."_

"_That obvious, eh?"_

"_Wanna talk about it, babe?"  
_

"_Nah, Belle. That'll just ruin the moment. Just… keep staying in my sights and I'll be smiling for a long time." _

"But then…" And then suddenly, her expression turned and she tried to hide a disappointed look.

"Then what?" Mercer quickly shook off the effects of those memory flashes. "Sarabelle?"

"Uh… I don't know how to put this without being mean but… coming home at really odd hours became a habit after a while. It didn't really bother me much, but after a while, it did. You rarely called. You were rarely home. And when you were, it was still all about work. I can't remember, but I think you and your team began having breakthroughs or something. It caused a serious strain on our relationship. I was getting lonely and you weren't around. I… even began to think that you didn't care about me anymore."

"Aw no, Sarabelle. Come on, I could have never- ugh…!" He clutched his head with both hands and doubled over.

_"What about today? You told me to get ready to leave at 7:30 because you wanted to take me out for my damned _birthday_."_

_"Holy-"_

_"Okay, so you had a long day of working. I'm not even asking for a phone call, Alex. It takes less than 30 seconds to send a fucking text__…__"_

_"Belle, I can't tell you how sorry I am-"_

_"No, you can't. Because you've run out of ways to say sorry to me, and frankly, I'm tired of hearing your sorrys. I knew the nature of your job, Alex. So when you asked me to marry you, I wanted to know if you could really commit to me just like you promised you would. You did commit to me, but that was before you proposed to me! And now? Is this the state you're going to leave me in after we get married?" _

_"So what are you saying?"_

_"I've already dumped my things in my car."_

"Alex, it's okay! Take a deep breath," Sarabelle placed both her hands on his shoulders and gently squeezed. "It's okay."

He shook his head once more. "I'm good, Sarabelle. I'm good." He assured.

"Did you have another memory flash?"

"Yeah," He looked at her. "Of the day you broke up with me."

She removed her hands from his shoulders.

"Did I really take you for granted like that?" Mercer himself was appalled by his actions. "Man… what the hell was I before getting infected? First, I go releasing a deadly virus, then I cause you so much pain?" With a heavy sigh, he pulled down the hood of his hoodie jacket to run a hand through his wavy short hair.

"Alex…" She returned one hand to his shoulder. "It's okay. Don't go feeling guilty about the past. It's done."

He glanced at her once more. "But… but you made my life worth living. My childhood made me so cold and into a borderline sociopath, which explains why I did what I did to you. I trusted no one, had no real friends except for Dana... Sarabelle," Suddenly, to her surprise, he took one of her hands. "I'm-I'm really sorry about what I did. I know you loved me endlessly and I took you for granted."

She smiled at him. "You know, you don't have to apologize to me again. You already did that."

"I did? When?"

At that moment, her smile was wiped clean from her face. "A few days before I watched you die at Penn Station."

* * *

**A/N: Hello to the 3 followers and non-members of the website who've personally contacted me! Thanks for taking a chance with this story :)  
**


	6. Reconciliation

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Nicolas Richards' apartment, East Harlem  
9:37pm  
2009  
(3 days before the first outbreak)**

The sound of the doorbell caused Sarabelle Richards to pause the music playing from her stereo and put down her paintbrush in puzzlement. If it was her father, he would have simply entered the apartment. But he was on a business trip, so who would be at the door at this time of the night?

Straightening her oversized t-shirt, she made her way to the front door and looked through the eyehole. She pulled away with even more confusion as her mind was at a blank: should she open the door?

Letting go of a quiet sigh, she opened the door and was face to face with her ex-fiancée. He gave her a half smile and greeted with, "Hey, Belle."

"Alex… this is a surprise," That was the best she could start with. "It's been 2 years."

"I know," Alex Mercer had his hands in the pockets of his jeans while he also wore a navy blue dress shirt and a black leather jacket with white stripes on the upper arms and a pair of red tribal dragons at the back. "Is this a bad time?"

"Uh no," She said. "My dad's on business trip. Come on in." She invited him in.

Mercer entered the apartment, shutting the door behind him. He followed her to the living room where they sat on the sofa. He was twiddling his thumbs in a paranoid manner and Sarabelle took notice of that. "Hey," She got his attention. "How've you been, Alex?" She smiled sweetly at him. "How's your work at Genteck and your girlfriend?"

He arched an eyebrow at her. "Girlfriend?"

"The pretty blonde who works with you. I've seen you around," She revealed, keeping her smile.

"Oh… Karen Parker… Yeah um, well you see, that's what I… kinda came to talk to you about…"

She watched as he would not stop fidgeting slightly, but she also was puzzled by his statement. "W-what do you mean?"

He kept on staring at his hands. "She broke up with me… for the same reasons you did…"

"Oh… Alex, I'm so sorry. I knew how hard you were trying; you did say to me you didn't want to make the same mistakes again," Sarabelle was thinking of a way to continue. "But what does this have to do with me, truly?"

"Because… that wasn't the main reason…"

"Well then, what was it?"

Mercer finally raised his head and turned to his right, looking at his ex-fiancée in the eye. "She realized… that I was still in love with you."

She could only gape at him for that. Mercer then got up, his back facing her as silence surrounded them for a good 10 seconds. She was still rooted to the sofa, and struggled to say something new. After all this time and he was still in love with… "Alex, I-"

"It's okay," He then turned to her, holding up a hand. "You don't have to say anything, Belle. I just… really, _really _to tell you this before it's too late."

It was then that Sarabelle picked up the nervousness, the hesitance… the _paranoia _in his once lively voice. "Too late? Too late for what?" She shot up from the sofa to meet with him. "Alex, what's going on? You look like you're about to sweat bullets here!"

With one hand, he reached to the back of his neck and massaged it. "Belle, it's a really long story. Oh fuck, if Blackwatch finds out what I know, they're gonna kill me!" Suddenly, he began to bite his fingernails, glancing to his left and right, paranoid.

"Blackwatch?" She could only narrow her eyes at him. "Alex, hey!" She reached for his hand with both hands and gently squeezed. "You're scaring me here. I've never seen you so paranoid and hesitant before."

"Heh," He faked a laugh. "That's because in the past, you were doing such a good job of keeping me sane."

Sarabelle knew what he meant by that. He had told her of his troubled childhood and everything he knew it had turned him into. But he had also looked her in the eyes and told her sincerely that being with her brought out the best in him and kept him from quite possibly turning into a complete sociopath. She was what he needed to feel like a real human being rather than a cold character who never thought about his actions. Real love could only do that, and he knew she could give him that from the first moment they met in that art gallery. "Take a seat, Alex," She led him back to the sofa and made him sit on it. "And tell me everything."

As she stood in front of him, Mercer looked up at her deep, soft green eyes.

"It's okay. You can trust me." Despite not wishing to, she still ran a hand through his wavy hair she had loved so much.

With a small sigh, Mercer glanced at the hand she was using to caress his head. He gently took it and also her other hand. "Okay," He nodded at her. "I'll tell you everything. But there's no way you can save me."

She let her hands stay in his gentle grip as she sat next to him. "We'll see about that. Start from the top."

For the next few minutes, Mercer struggled but managed to tell his ex-fiancée everything: the Blacklight virus, Blackwatch's presence, what Dana had uncovered about the true nature of his work… everything little detail. He also told her how it caused a strain on his relationship with Karen Parker, because he would often neglect her and end up being so afraid of what Blackwatch would do to him. And also because of the fact he made it obvious he was still in love with Sarabelle.

With each piece of information he gave her, Mercer found that holding onto her hands gave him a little comfort. And after hearing everything, Sarabelle had this to say, "You need to leave." She got up from the sofa.

"What?"

"You need to leave Manhattan," That was what she meant. "This is some serious shit here, and you're already deep in it. And now that you know what you know, there's no way you can keep it to yourself. There's no way you're _safe_. Alex, you could get killed!"

"Look, I already know that!" He said. "I just don't know what to do! All this information I gathered is driving me crazy, including the fact that you're not mine anymore!"

Sarabelle gaped at him.

He knew he had said too much right then. "When you left me, I lost it, Belle. What's left of my mind, anyways…"

"So is that why you're truly here?" She asked. "You want me back?"

"I know that can't happen," He said, getting up. "I've hurt you one too many times. But these two years have been _hell_, and it doesn't help that I also have a target painted on my back! I'm losing it, Belle, and I know it very well. If I go down, I just want to know whether or not I'll go, knowing you've forgiven me for everything."

Forgiveness. That was what Alex was here for. It didn't really have anything to do with his discovery of the true nature of his work, but because today, he had just broken up with his girlfriend and needed to feel like guilty somehow. Sarabelle giving him that forgiveness may ease his pain a little, but it sure as hell wasn't going to keep him from doing something stupid. She could see it in his expression, his posture, his words – he was losing it.

She was the only person he told about the fact that he had therapy sessions leading to his diagnosis. He couldn't help but be taciturn and feel sociopathic at times. But it seems that being with Sarabelle changed all of that and in his words, keep him sane.

"Alex, look at me," With both hands, she reached forward and cupped both of his flawlessly chiseled cheeks. "I want you to know something I've never told you: the first time I ever saw you – I saw a man in a business suit with sparkling silver-blue eyes and hair that drove me nuts everytime. I spoke to a man who was jam-packed with intellectualism and elegance that it made it seem like he was flawless. And lastly, I chose to fall in love with a man who didn't have to give me a dozen reasons why I shouldn't, because I already knew from that first moment, _you _were the one I wanted," Suddenly, she had tears forming in her eyes. "And you're the one that I _still _want…"

His eyes widened at that. "Belle…?"

Her hands slid down to his chest. "You told me everything that you had to endure before you met me. Your mother, the foster care, those therapy sessions you never told anyone about… You yourself were a big cry for help, and I remember taking your hand and telling that I would never leave you for any reason because I wanted you to feel like you belonged. Like you didn't have to be the ghost you once were. But I broke that promise, and that's been eating me up since the day I left you!" She was now having trouble keeping her emotions together. "You want me to forgive you? I will! But only if you agree to forgive _me_ and promise me that you'd leave Manhattan and never come back."

"Belle-"

"Alex, please!" She wanted to say what was needed. "You're neck deep in this! You've got a target on your back! And I've seen the reports from your therapy sessions – you're not stable, Alex, and I can see it very clearly right now. Please, ever since you walked in here, you've been shaking! I _know _you're going to snap, but I can't have you do that or you're going to get yourself killed! So please, Alex… get out of the city. Save yourself."

"Belle, please," Mercer quickly took her hands. "You don't have to be sorry for anything. Really. _I _was the one who took you for granted. But I _swear_, I didn't mean to and that's why I'm here: to apologize to you for it all. And you're right: I think I need to leave the city, but not without insurance. I'm _not _letting Blackwatch and Genteck get away with any of this!"

She nodded at that, hands running past his cheeks once more. "Okay. If you're actually going to do it," She glanced up at his eyes and then said in a whisper. "And I forgive you, handsome."

That brought a true smile to his face, and for that moment, everything that was running through his mind froze, as well as those feelings of paranoia and fear. Mercer swathed his arms around her for a hug and she accepted it.

While she embraced him and played with his hair, she said in a playful tune, "Be honest: you knew I loved this jacket. So you wore just because you were coming to see me, right?"

He allowed himself to laugh at that as he embraced her in a warm hug. "You know I did."


	7. The Good Things

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
7:59pm  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1)**

"After that night, I never saw you again. You never called, you never answered when I called and you never answered the door whenever I would go to your apartment to check on you. So I assumed that you actually left. If that was the case, then I didn't really worry because I knew you'd be safe – away from Gentek and Blackwatch. I was wrong. Because then I watched you die."

"Watched me die? You were – you were at Penn Station?"

"My dad had finished his business trip earlier and I was going to pick him up. I was on my way to the station when I heard all the commotion."

* * *

**Location: Pennsylvania Station  
8:18pm  
(Day of the first outbreak)**

"_Stop!"_

_What the-? _Sarabelle titled her head in confusion at that distant yell coming from behind her. She spun around and was almost thrown off her feet when a hooded man with a black jacket and a few other men in black suits and assault rifles zoomed past her and to Penn Station.

"_Alex Mercer! Halt!" _

She turned her head to their direction in an instant. "Alex Mercer?" She tried her best to catch a glimpse of the man they were chasing… and she spotted the pair of red tribal dragons on the back of that black leather jacket. "Oh my _God_…" She immediately followed suit.

They were already inside the station, and several citizens came running out screaming with fear. Sarabelle observed from behind a wall as Mercer was cornered by these men in black suits with assault rifles. He appeared to have something in his hand but she couldn't make out what. She watched as he fidgeted in a paranoid manner, raising that object in his hand like he was going to smash it or something.

"Put _down _the vial and step away from it!"

At that moment, Sarabelle feared for the worst. Because of his hood, she could not get even a glimpse of Mercer's expression, but his actions were enough for her to know that his paranoia had gotten the best of him, despite her best efforts a few nights ago. Something must have pushed him to the limit, or something inside of him snapped. Either way, a group of men in black suits and gloves with assault rifles pointing at Mercer? She was already silently praying for nothing to go down.

And before she knew it, Mercer, in a fit of anger or frustration she couldn't quite tell, he smashed the vial onto the ground. Those men in black fired a few shots, fatally penetrating Mercer in the chest and abdomen. Instantly, he fell to his knees, and flat on his face.

Sarabelle covered her mouth upon witnessing the horror that had transpired before her. Once all guns had been lowered, in order not to get caught, Sarabelle took off, crying her heart out.

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
Present **

"And that's when, a few days later, Blackwatch came by, picked me up and brought me back to one of their bases to question me about you. Whatever they asked, I answered honestly… although I think they were just looking for a way to take you down," With that Sarabelle turned around to facing Mercer, who was still seated on the ground. "I'm so sorry, Alex. I really hope that anything I told them didn't-"

"Hey," Mercer cut in gently, getting to his feet. "Don't worry about it. It was nothing I couldn't handle. Really." He produced a little smile at that.

She nodded at him. "Okay. So um…" She glanced down at her feet briefly. "I've told you just about everything. What happens now?"

He let go of a heavy sigh. "Well, I now truly know that you're the only person, other than Dana, whom I can really trust. I was… hoping to do some soul-searching, but I really needed to find you and talk to you first."

"Well, now you have." She smiled.

"Yeah… I have…" He said with uncertainty in his tone.

And she sensed that. "Hey. What's wrong, Alex?"

He shrugged his shoulders a little. "I… still don't know if that's enough for me."

"Okay. So what else do you want?"

"I already told you, Sarabelle: to be part of the Human race once again," He said. "I mean… I was, quite literally, a blank slate, with all of my memories wiped clean and as I get back pieces of it, it only leads to horror: mostly the horrors of what I was before I met you and the horrors that people like Gentek and Blackwatch create. I-I want to know that there aren't other horrors out there; that humans are worth so much more. That they are capable of the good things…" He then lowered his head. "That _I'm _capable of the good things too…"

"Hey, Alex," She gently pushed his chin upwards. "Once again, you saved a city from getting blown up. Everything you've done so far was in your favor, yes, but you were actually bringing down the people who caused these horrors. Look, I really can't imagine how you feel right now. I would feel like shit too if I had lost my memory and been through what you have. But I'd wish you'd understand that you _are _already human. You have a feelings, hope, conscience. A face. A name."

He faked a half-smile. "But this face and name aren't mine. I'm the virus."

She shook her head. "If you weren't Alex Mercer, then how come you have those memories? If you were supposed to be some super-smartass virus, then why not twist those memories? Why not create new faked ones?" She questioned. "You didn't and you couldn't because _you _are Alex Mercer and the memories you have are yours and yours alone."

"Sarabelle, you don't understand: this is what the virus does. It mimics and retains genetic information."

She sighed. "You know, you're never going to find out what it means to be human if you keep doing this to yourself. So stop it. Put it this way then: you have a face and a name now. But you already have the basic human qualities which are a conscience, faith, rational thinking and feelings. If you ask me, you're already halfway there. You're just confused. You need to see things a little clearer. And I wouldn't mind helping you with it. I think I owe you, Alex; you saved my life."

Mercer watched the gratitude sparkle in her deep green eyes. "That's really kind of you, Sarabelle. I think I'd like that." He smiled at her gratefully. "And to thank you? I'm going to teach you how to use your new abilities."


	8. Pretend You're A Bird

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
6:00am  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1)**

"ALEX! I'M SCARED!"

"Look, Gliding is one of the things this virus can do. You can't _fly_, but hey, if you're lazy… just glide!"

"THEN I'LL JUST RUN! YOU SAID I HAVE SUPERHUMAN SPEED!"

"Come on, Sarabelle," Alex Mercer tried his hardest to pry Sarabelle Richards away from him and turn her around to the edge of the rooftop. In an attempt to teach Sarabelle how to glide, it appeared that she had a tiny fear of heights, and evidenced by how she latched onto him the moment she glanced down from the tall building here in Midtown East, the Blue Zone. However, her reaction was a little hilarious to him; he couldn't help but keep a silly grin on his face. "Turn around."

"NO."

"Come on, scaredy-cat, turn around," With little effort, he spun her around to face the empty street below. "Alright. Just follow my lead and instructions. First off, don't worry about losing momentum and falling – you _won't _die upon hitting the ground. Trust me: it's gotta be the high endurance level."

"But it's got to run out sometime!"

He ignored her panicky behavior and continued on. "But if you listen, you won't fall. Just run, make a huge jump, and then pretend you're a bird."

She shot him a dirty look. "You said I couldn't fly."

And he was ready to connect his forehead with his palm. "Just… watch."

Mercer took many steps back, readied himself, and took off. He sprinted at high speed, made a jump as soon as he was nearing the edge of the rooftop and glided towards the shorter building in front of them, landing perfectly on his feet.

He turned around and spread his arms at her. "Your turn, little artist!"

Sarabelle gulped – she was not going to make it.

She proceeded to taking the same amount of steps Mercer took and stood there, still afraid. She straightened her oversized hoodie jacket, tucked her hair behind her ear and fixed her bangs, although she did not understand why she was doing that – it was all going to get messed up anyway when she would land flat on her face.

"I'm waaaaaaiting!" She suddenly heard her ex-boyfriend say in sing-song.

She grumbled under her breath and decided to make this quick. Sarabelle began to run, and then she picked up her speed, partly shocked by how fast she was going.

The jump! She had to jump at the edge of the rooftop! Quickly, she put all of her weight into one foot and jumped – at an insane height. "HOLY SHIT, ALEX, GET ME DOWN!" She was flaying in the air.

He tilted his head upwards and yelled, "You're doing great! Now just spread your arms and tilt your body forward and pretend you're a bird!"

She did just that, and she was gliding perfectly! However, because of the height she got to, she was gliding further away from Mercer's current position.

"It's okay! Keep going! I'll follow you!" She heard him yell. "When you start to lose momentum, just bring your legs forward and land on them!"

She was now getting closer and closer to another building's rooftop. "WHEN I WHAT?"

"I said, when you-"

_**CRASH**_.

"… Oh shit" was all that came out of Mercer's mouth in a soft tone.

Mercer quickly sprinted to the building where he saw Sarabelle crash land. Jumping over air vents and running up walls, he made it to her. She was sprawled on the ground on her back, with a face that read, "what the hell".

"Sarabelle!" He hurried to her side and lifted her head up. "Hey, you alright?"

Her impact made a little concrete angel on the rooftop. She shifted her eyes to him and to his surprise, smiled. "That was kinda fun."

And Mercer chuckled at her.

* * *

**The Next Day…**

"Alrighty. I've given you every power I know: Claws, Blade," When Mercer said the names of the weapons, he shifted his arms to them accordingly. "I call this one 'Hammerfist'. This one 'Whipfist'."

"You're telling me… that I have the ability to wield _these_? I can just shift my arms into them?"

Mercer nodded. "Yep."

"But how do I – I mean, is there like – do I like-"

He chuckled at her. "I know where you're getting at," He morphed his Whipfist back to his regular arm. "How I shape-shift, well… I just do. The virus is really smart. I guess it just picks on what we want."

Sarabelle glanced down at the bioluminescent on the top of her hands. She flexed her right arm out… and it morphed into a Whipfist. Her emerald eyes widened with shock. "Oh my-"

"Ha!" But he was proud of her. "You did it!"

* * *

**The Next Day… **

"Okay. Wall-running. This is the trickiest off them all. Just follow me lead again, okay?" Mercer looked at her. "All you have to do is run, but instead of on the ground, you're running _up_."

"You know, I'm not exactly as light as a feather," Sarabelle pointed out, arms across her chest. "What if I fall through the windows?"

He smiled at her. "Don't worry. When you're running up, it'll be like running on air. That's the beauty of the virus. Come on. Follow me."

With that, Mercer ran towards the same tall building they were once on, timed himself and began to wall-run up the building. Sarabelle watched with awe at the way he moved up the side of the building.

When Mercer was about one-third up the building, he stopped, did a little back flip, and landed on his feet behind Sarabelle on the ground.

She gulped.

He grinned at her. "Come on. You can do it. I'll be right here."

With an intake of breath, she turned her head back to the building and glanced up. Man, her heart was really pounding. But casting aside her little fears, she made a run for the building and followed exactly what Mercer did. She tried to remind herself that it was just like running, only on the side of a building. And now, she was perfectly running up.

"You're doing great, Sarabelle! When you're ready, do the backflip and land on your feet!" She could his fading voice tell her.

But then, she panicked. She didn't know how to get it done. Should she stop and then do it? But what if she stopped and fell instantly? _Oh God, oh God, oh God, help me, virus! _

She stopped, but it might have been too long of a pause. True enough, she began to fall, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"… Oh shit." Mercer repeated once more. Instinctively, he ran up the side of the building towards her. As soon as he was closer to her, he made a little jump and caught her by the waist. He landed on his feet on top of another shorter building.

He now had her bridal-style and he looked at her: she was covering her entire face with both her hands, practically trembling in his arms. It was then she realized that she wasn't plummeting through the air anymore. Slowly, she removed her hands from her face, and was greeted by a smirk on her ex-boyfriend's face.

"Wow. You weren't kidding about not being as light as a feather."

A playful slap from her hand connected with his chest.

* * *

**A/N: Moving onto the events of Prototype 2 in a bit :)**


	9. I'll Be Right Here

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
6:47pm  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1)**

The evening sun was setting in an array of crimson and gold, and Alex Mercer and Sarabelle Richards were privileged to get the best view from the rooftop of that same tall building here in Midtown East, the Blue Zone. Nine days had passed since Mercer tracked her down and infected her with the virus and taught her how to use them: from gliding to consuming. Violence was, most definitely, not in her nature. She was finding it hard to even punch an infected civilian in the face. But they both knew since she was really new to this, she would require some time.

"I think it's been a while since I appreciated one of these," Mercer said, smiling at the sunset before them, hands in his leather jacket pockets. "Though looking keeps reminding me of something…"

"What is it?" Sarabelle asked.

He shook his head. "I can't really remember. Do you?" He turned his head to her.

She smiled to herself slightly, nodding. "Yeah," She turned her whole body to him. "You proposed to me on Valentine's Day with one of these in the background."

"Really? Wow," He looked at the sunset again, scratching the back of his head. "It must have been magical then, huh?"

She nodded again. "It was."

For a moment, they smiled lovingly at each other, before Mercer spoke once again. "So, there's something I have to tell you."

"Oh? What is it?" She turned her whole body to him.

"I've been thinking and… I-I know you've been trying your best to convince me that I don't need anything else to tell me that I'm human… but I'm sorry, I still don't feel like it," He said. "I feel like… I need some kind of anchor to hold onto. Something to show me that it's worth being human and rejoining the race."

Mercer couldn't see that that wasn't what she was expecting to hear from him. She was expecting something else entirely. But in her heart, she knew it was too soon, especially when he was in the state he was in now. So she walked up to him, giving him a small smile. "You know what, Alex, you're right. It isn't enough for me to tell you that you're human. For what you've been through and seen, you _do _need some kind of anchor. I understand. But what are you going to do about it?"

He glanced down at his feet. "Well… I've decided to leave Manhattan and travel. And I… I want you to come with me."

She raised her eyebrows at him. "Me?"

He nodded. "Yeah. I would like you to come with me. I know that this is a trip to take alone, but… something is telling me that I can't let you go," He faked a little laugh. "Ha, I think it's because you helped me with one of the basic human traits: feelings."

She smiled lovingly at him, but hated to tell him her decision. "Alex, that's a kind invitation and believe me, I would love to come with you but… I can't." She shrugged her shoulders.

It felt like a slap across his face. "What? But why not?"

"Alex, hear me out," She took a few steps closer to him. "This is happening to me too. You've been such a big help to me and I'm so grateful. I would love to repay you somehow but coming with you? I'm sorry, I can't."

"But why not? What's keeping you here?" He softly squeezed her upper arms.

"Nothing is, really," She said. "I'm just thinking about you."

"What about me, Sarabelle?" He questioned gently.

"Alex, between you and me, who's been through the most? You," She said. "You've lost your memory and then to make up for it, you had kill hundreds, maybe _thousands _of people, both human and infected. And if that wasn't enough, you were exposed to the worst that humanity could produce: Gentek and Blackwatch and their ways. You really need time to think and explore and like you said, find some kind of anchor to hold onto. And that's something you can only do alone."

Mercer couldn't say he wasn't disappointed. Sarabelle knew she had hurt him a little bit, but she hope he could see things from her point of view. "Hm… can't say I'm not hurt, Sarabelle…"

His hands were slipping away from her upper arms, but before he could break complete contact with her, she quickly clasped them. "I know you are. And I'm sorry."

He glanced down at their clasped hands and then asked, "So… what are _you _going to do? What with your dad-"

"Yeah, I guess I'm not the only one who's going to be alone…" She faked a laugh, trying to hold back her tears for what happened to her father. "Um…" She cleared her throat. "I-I've got nowhere to go, that's for sure. So I think that I'll stay here and work on clearing this city of the infected the best I can. I'll work on saving civilians from Gentek and Blackwatch. But to achieve all that, I guess I've really got to work on my powers and abilities, huh?" She giggled.

He chuckled back. "Yeah, I suppose. You can do it, Sarabelle. I know you can," He said truthfully. "But once the city's gone back to normal, it won't be safe for you. Remember, they'll be looking for me and anyone else associated with me. If you're still gonna stay, keep a low profile. Got it?"

She nodded with understanding. "Of course. Anything else, Alex?" She asked.

There was… something else on his mind. "Yeah, there is. If there's a chance I decide to come back… think you'd be here? If I do come back, you promise you'll be here?" He asked like an innocent child. "Because if I don't find that anchor, I at least know that there'll be another right here for me."

Sarabelle grinned wider at that. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, to which he closed his eyes, and smiled. "Just for you, Alex… I'll be right here."

That was all he needed, and a loving hug was his way of saying thank you.


	10. See Ya

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Midtown East, Manhattan, New York  
7:00am  
2009  
(After the nuclear bomb sabotage in Prototype 1)**

Alex Mercer watched as the morning sun rose from the mingled colors of red, gold and a little bit of pink. He was about to leave North America and travel to do some soul-searching and find that soul he had been missing. But it wouldn't be fair to leave with saying goodbye to Sarabelle Richards, the woman who had been his rock for these few days. He waited patiently for her to come to the rooftop of the abandoned military base that they had been staying in thus far.

He heard her footsteps and tore his attention away from the sun to face her… and was in for a pleasant surprise.

Sarabelle was now wearing light blue tank top with a navy blue long-sleeved shrug, heeled knee-high black boots with black jeans, and a black belt with a silver buckle to match it all. She had both her hands behind her back and smiled shyly at him.

"Wow!" He walked up to her, checking her out from head to toe. "Look at you! Where'd you get this outfit?"

"I made it. Or rather, the virus did." She said.

He narrowed his eyes at her, but still smiled sweetly at her. "What do you mean?"

"This whole outfit? It was created from biomass, Alex!" She said, tugging on the hem of her tank top. "I just concentrated and poof! I had created an outfit! This virus is really something else."

"I'll say," For some reason, he couldn't take his eyes off her. "You look amazing."

She giggled. "Thanks, Alex. You take good care of yourself, okay? Stay safe."

"I will. Don't worry about me. _You _need to watch yourself," He said. "If you're going to be staying here, of all places."

"I know. And I'll be fine," She assured with one of her pleasant smiles. "_You _don't worry."

"Okay then." With that, he leaned in and planted a soft peck on her cheek – something that she was not expecting at all. "See ya, Belle. Good luck."

Although that kiss was supposed to have rendered her completely speechless, she grabbed his arm to stop him from turning away. "Wait! W-what did you call me?"

He simply smiled at her. "I called you 'Belle'. Isn't that your name?"

"But… but you haven't called me that thus far…."

He kept his silly grin. "Well… just like you, Belle… I'm hoping that the feelings I used to have towards you will return someday."

Her jaw dropped to the ground at that – _how _did he know that she was still, very much, in love with him and that she had been silently praying for those feelings to be reciprocated?

"So keep having faith, Belle," He told her as he began to back up from her. "Because whenever the hell I come back here, I might not only have found my soul, but I might have found those feelings too."

A large grin spread across her face at that.

Mercer continued to smile and he waved at her. "See ya, Belle."

She waved back, smiling just as brightly as that sun he had been watching before. "See ya, Alex."

* * *

**A/N: Surprise! Another extra, but short chapter. Cause we're moving onto the Prototype 2 storyline now! :)  
**


	11. Summon The Infected

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

_The age of humans has passed. And the task of ushering in a new world… a_ better _world… falls on me. _

_But to do that, I'll need some help to start with. Wonder if she's still here as promised. _

_Am I going to tell her my plans? No. Not at the moment. She'll just try to convince me otherwise and it would not deny the fact that humans are worthless. We're not human anymore, Sarabelle and I. We're something more… and the world is going to benefit from it. _

_But once she sees the things that we Prototypes and Evolved can do, she'll understand. I _know _she will. _

_Now… time to head over to Penn Station…_

* * *

__**Location: Green Zone, Manhattan, New York  
8:21pm  
2010  
(2 weeks after the second outbreak in New York Zero ****–**** Prototype 2)**

"Belle?"

It took him a while, but Alex Mercer managed to track down Sarabelle Richards, and here she was, in the Green Zone, at the rooftop of an apartment complex. She was alone, and that was he needed.

Like she didn't want to believe, she slowly turned around to that voice and sure enough, there he was: Alex Mercer. "Oh my God… Alex! You're back!" She wore the exact same outfit she had on before he left Manhattan – the outfit she created form biomass.

"Yeah, I just got here. I was running all over the Green Zone, looking for you." He happily accepted her flying-tackle hug. "It's good to see you again."

"Oh, you too, Alex," She said, now in smiles. "I thought you were never coming back! I guess your little soul-searching went well." She pulled back.

But she was met with a faked small smile.

"Hey. What's wrong, Alex?"

He bit his lower lip and took her hands. "Come on, Belle. We need to talk."

* * *

Mercer spent quite a while explaining to her all the atrocities he had seen during these past 14 months. He ended it off by telling her about Flint and his daughter Autumn and what he had discovered about them – Flint's involvement in extortion and murders, and Autumn stealing the money Mercer had and leaving him for dead.

Mercer found that holding onto Sarabelle's hand while he narrated his stories found it easier – reminded him of the last time he saw her before he got shot in Penn Station.

"Alex, hey," She called for him. "Do _not _let this ruin your view on the human race. Betrayals and deceits are just the darker sides of men. But trust me when I say that there _are _good people in the world."

_No, Belle. You don't understand. I believe that there's no good in the world anymore. Although is everyone else was like you… _"I don't know anymore, Belle…" He said, dejected, shaking his head.

"It's okay," She said in a soft tone. "We'll work on it. I'm here for you." She reached forward and took his other hand.

_Sorry I have to do this to you, but I know you'll understand one day. _He smiled back at her. "Thanks so much, Belle. And I'm really sorry."

"About what?"

"About Autumn," He caught her gaze. "I feel disgusted about the fact that I started to fall for her. I didn't mean to hurt you by telling you that."

She gave him a short laugh. "You're too adorable, you know that?" She said. "We weren't even _dating_, Alex! How could you have hurt me if you weren't even in love with me?"

"Because… I think I'm starting to fall in love with you _now…_" He said, a little embarrassed to look at her.

"Oh… OH." It then hit her. "Um… okay."

"I-I hope I didn't make you feel uncomfortable…"

"No, no!" Her smile returned. "It's quite alright! You know, I never… _completely _got over you, you know. I believe that some of those feelings I had for you are tucked away somewhere."

"Well then…" He smiled at her. "Maybe you can find them and we can be together like we were meant to be?"

She swore she heard her heart sing in happiness. "If that's what you believe, Alex."

"I do," He was beaming, gleefully holding onto her hands. "I'm really glad you stayed here after all."

"Me too. Because now, we have to work on getting rid of the virus," Her tone now became serious. "I don't what kind of sick, twisted individual would release it… and at Penn Station, of all places!" She looked at him.

"I know: Gentek and Blackwatch," He said. "This isn't a viral outbreak. It's a bioweapons test. It _has _to be."

To his surprise, she nodded in agreement. "I know it is too. Think about it: an outbreak at the exact same location? And then Gentek and Blackwatch suddenly coming to the recuse? There were even reports on sightings of you in locations in the Red Zone, but it couldn't be because you just got here. Not only that… the Yellow Zone…"

"Belle?" He watched her expression turn. "What's in the Yellow Zone?" He gently gripped her upper arms.

"More horrors," She said, shaking her head. "Civilians are being captured by Blackwatch and then delivered to Gentek for experimental purposes! This just tells me that they _had _to have been the ones who started this outbreak! Alex, we have to stop them, no matter what," She looked up at his silver-blue eyes. "New York can't take anymore of this."

Mercer nodded in agreement. "I know… which is why I might have a plan. But you'll have to hear me out."

"Sure, Alex. Tell me."

He made sure he was going to choose his words carefully, and not say anything stupid. "Well, I was thinking… If we're going to take down Gentek and Blackwatch, we can't do it on our own. It's going to be the two of us versus God knows how many of them. What we need is an army. People who will be willing to fight with us. People who can get into the core of Gentek and Blackwatch and help destroy them from the inside."

"You're talking about spies,"

"Not just _any _spies, Belle," He said. "But the Evolved – humans who'll become just like us."

"J-just like us? You mean…"

"Yep."

She was having a little bit of trouble understanding this all. "So these… people who'll assist us would be infected by the virus and become an 'Evolved' like us. But where are you going to find these people?"

_I already have. _"If I can just find out and talk to the people who work in Blackwatch and Gentek, but completely hate what they're doing, they'll be sure to join us. Don't you think?"

Sarabelle gave a look that said, 'You make a good argument'. "I find nothing wrong with that, Alex. You make sense. Okay, I'm in."

He broke out a grin. "Really? Great!"

"Okay then," She smiled back. "You work on finding these people who can help us, and I'll be in the Yellow Zone, saving civvies. Unless there's something else you want me to work on?"

He shook his head slightly at her. "No, not at the moment. I can handle things for now. But if I need you, I'll come find you. Don't worry," He said. "You just need to look out for yourself. If Blackwatch finds out what you've become, you'll be hunted day and night."

She bit her lower lip at that. "Uh… Too late."

_And I know exactly why. _"What do you mean?"

She let go of a huge sigh, before fishing out a radio, one used a by Blackwatch solider, from her back pocket. "The last Blackwatch solider I consumed received this transmission. Listen:"

She hit a switch on the radio and let the message play: _"All units, this is Red Crown. Be alert for an individual, possibly infected by the Mercer Virus. The target's name is Richards, Sarabelle Elaine. Codename: Red Phantom. Target is a red-head, white, and last seen in a blue tank top, blue shrug and black jeans. Target is also associated to Alex Mercer, Codename: Zeus. If you spot the target, you are to contain her. You are not cleared hot. Repeat: _not _cleared hot." _

Sarabelle cut the message and sighed again. "I think the 'Red' in my codename comes from my hair color. But not much of a ghost now, am I? Now that they've known that I'm infected and running around freeing civvies and killing their men? I'm kinda screwed, don't you think?"

_No, you're not, 'Red Phantom', cause I need you. _"No," As he caught her gaze, he said the next words in a solemn, promising tone. "As long as I'm around, Blackwatch is _not _going to touch you."

She smiled gratefully at him. "Aw, that's sweet of you, Alex, but as long as I've got my army backing me up, I think I'll be fine."

Now that was something that was new to him. What did she mean by 'army'? "Army?"

"Oh yeah!" She mentally slapped herself. "I forgot to tell you. The virus… I think it… sorta gave me a unique power. I can summon the infected."

_You can what? _"You can… what?"

"Summon the infected, silly! Brawlers, Hydras, even these things called 'Juggernauts' that Gentek created… I can get them to come to my recuse. Same goes for Walkers and Flyers."

_Hm… now I definitely need you, Belle_. "Well, this will surely be helpful. Just… remind me not to piss you off though…"

* * *

**A/N: Time for Prototype 2 and evil Mercer! **


	12. Shadow The Sergeant

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York  
10:53pm  
2010  
(2 months after the second outbreak in New York Zero ****–**** Events of Prototype 2)**

Alex Mercer was currently holding no remorse for his actions. It didn't even bother him that he was lying to and deceiving the woman lying in his arms right now. It was because he hoped that the end results of his plans would convince her that he was on the right track. He didn't mean to play her, but her powers and her ability to control the infected was far too valuable, so he needed her.

And it wasn't helping that he was slowly falling for her. Yes, it did make him feel just a _little _guilty, but somehow, he was always able to cast aside those feelings and focus on his plans. He always assured himself: _I'm doing the right thing. _

"His name is James Heller. He's a military sergeant. He's strong like you wouldn't believe it. It'll take a while before he learns to trust me, though."

Sarabelle Richards smiled at that, leaning her head back against his shoulder and smiling at him. "Well, maybe you should have been nicer."

"Nah. I don't have time for that." He said in an amused voice, twirling a lock of her red hair. "We have organizations to take down."

"How is it looking so far?"

"Blackwatch is now the strongest they've ever been. Gentek's still making all kinds of infected creatures," He looked at her. "But you don't worry. There's nothing I can't handle yet. Now that we're also working on that cure, everything should be fine."

"You know where to find me when you need me, Alex." She told him with sincerity sparkling in her eyes.

He smiled back at her. "I know, Belle. Don't worry. But tonight… let's just focus on us. Okay?"

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York  
9:18pm **

"Honey, _relax. _So Heller accidently killed Koenig – big deal! Don't you have others within Gentek?"

"You don't _understand_. I _needed _Koenig. The knowledge he possessed – everything is gone!"

"So why are you yelling at me for? Keep your hood on and think about the future. Most of the ones in the higher rank are our folks," Sarabelle told him in a calm tone, hoping to put some sense back into her boyfriend. "We still got this. You already talked to Heller. I'm sure he'll be careful from now on." She watched as he paced up and down in their private location with an irritated look on his face. "Hey," She called out lovingly, finally getting his attention. "Do you want me to follow him? Make sure he's not messing up anything else?"

Mercer sighed epically and walked up to her. "Well… that might not be a bad idea. Alright," He cupped his cheeks as well as her hair. "But keep your distance. Come back to me if he's onto something that will foil our plans."

She smirked at him. "You got it, boss."

* * *

**A/N: Onto Sarabelle finding out the truth! :O**


	13. Lies?

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Green Zone, Manhattan, New York  
1:26pm  
2010**

(2 months after the second outbreak in New York Zero **–**** Events of Prototype 2)**

_Man, I've never seen Alex this pissed off! Hopefully, this James Heller doesn't do anything stupid like that again. I've been running up and down, and I still can't find him. Hopefully he's somewhere in the Green Zone. _

_But now, I'm hearing reports of a _cure _for the virus called "Whitelight". I'll need to confirm this before I start going after Heller again. Cause if it _is _true… then why the hell didn't Alex tell me about this? We have people within Gentek's ranks. Surely he _must _know something about this…_

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York**

"Alex!"

Alex Mercer turned his head to the calling of his name. Sarabelle entered their private hideout with a concerned look on her face. "Did you hear? Gentek is releasing a _cure _for the Blacklight virus!"

To her disbelief, he smiled at her. "Surprise."

"What? You mean-"

Mercer kept his smile. "We've been working on it for a while. I wanted it to be a surprise."

Upon hearing that, Sarabelle broke into smiles and squealed. "Alex!" She gave him a massive hug. "This is amazing! The city will be cleared of the infected!"

"Yep," He pulled back. "Leaving us with only Blackwatch and Gentek to take care of."

"You're still bring down Gentek? Even if they created the cure?"

"No, the ones who created the cure were our folks," He said with a straight face. "The others? Huh, you wouldn't believe the things they are creating…"

Sarabelle ran both her hands up his chest, a sign meaning 'say no more'. "It's okay, I think I can take a hint. Do what you have to do."

He nodded at her. "What's going on with Heller?"

She pulled a face at that. "That guy is _hard _to find! I've got some of my Brawlers running up and down, helping me find him. Hopefully, he hasn't done anything so far. But don't you worry, handsome," She smiled lovingly at him. "_I _can take of him."

Upon viewing that smile, he tried not to let the guilt run through him. "Do what you have to do, Belle."

* * *

**Location: Green Zone, Manhattan, New York  
10:25pm**

"No clue. The one thing that can take down the Infected, and Mercer's protecting it. Doesn't make sense. Gotta figure this shit out before it's too late."

In the quiet of the night, Sarabelle witnessed James Heller, a man Mercer has recently recruited, consume one of the Evolved known as Commander Gallagher and then proceed to hearing the last few words Heller said to someone he was talking to on his cellphone. She narrowed her eyes in great confusion at those words.

"What the hell?" She stood atop of an apartment complex next to two of her Brawlers. "What's going on? Why's Heller doing this? Alex is not gonna be pleased about this…"

"But judging from that last sentence, Heller is doubtful of the Whitelight. And of Alex. But why? Didn't Alex talk to him? Didn't he say that Heller was okay with all of this?"

She was kind of hoping that her Brawlers could speak to her and offer some insight. She decided that their soft growls were good enough for her. "Looks like Heller's on to something that we don't know about. Let's keep following him then."

* * *

"Father. Still no idea where Archer is. But this Whitelight thing… sounds like Mercer's fucked with all of it."

Using the shadows of the alleyway to her advantage, Sarabelle listened in on that opening sentence Heller made to his associate on the phone, after he had consumed a doctor known as Gutierrez . This was putting her to even greater confusion. James Heller knew something was up, no doubt, but directly asking him to lead to some problems that she didn't want to deal with at the moment and that she knew that Heller could not handle right now.

_What the hell's going on with the Whitelight? Alex assures me that it's a damn cure! So what's wrong? _"Come on, Heller…" She whispered to herself. "Lead me to the answers. You've got my attention."

* * *

"Not really. Mercer's poisoned Whitelight with some kind of blood culture. His blood culture. That's all I've got."

"No…" Sarabelle shook her head at that. "Poisoned? Why? Why would Alex want to do that? Goddamn it, _something's _wrong! But what?!" She kicked the air vent atop a building in frustration.

Her two Brawlers titled their heads at her.

She turned her attention back to them. "Something's not right, you guys! Something's going on and it involves the damn Whitelight and Alex! But-but Alex has been trying to get rid of the infection! _Why _would he want to poison the cure, of all things?"

Infuriated, she turned her head back to where James Heller once was, watching as he walked off. "Keep going then, Heller. I need to know what you know."

* * *

Finally, after seemed like forever to Sarabelle, she was sure she was going to get some solid answers at last. She overheard a conversation between James Heller and someone who looked like a priest and discovered that they were going to have a tiny, controlled release of the Whitelight cure to see its effects. Though she felt like she should be running off to Mercer, she had become too suspicious of him already. She wanted the truth of the Whitelight – and she was going to get it now.

She watched as Heller disguised himself as a Blackwatch Commander and ordered a Blackwatch solider to release a small amount of the Whitelight. It was then that she watched in horror as the red-tinted cloud from the container cover the few Blackwatch soldiers in that area… and they immediately transformed into Evolved.

"Oh my God… oh my God!" She wished that she was seeing things: the Whitelight cure that was _supposed _to be the damned cure… was instead _infecting _people.

It then dawned upon her that there was no cure whatsoever. Putting the pieces together, meaning the little information she had overheard from following Heller, it meant that Mercer had poisoned the Whitelight with his blood culture, with no intention of curing the infection, but rather spreading it.

"It can't be…" Sarabelle's hand connected with her forehead, upon realizing it all. "He's been _lying _to me… What the _fuck _is he doing?!"

Turning her head back to Heller, she cursed once again, realizing that he was gone. At that moment, she had no patience to look for Heller. She just wanted solid answers. But how? How to confront the man whom you thought you would trust with your whole heart?

She needed more. She needed cold hard _solid _facts.

A thought then crossed her racing mind. Penn Station. Everything started there. What if Alex-?

No. He told her that he had arrived _after _the infection spread.

What are the odds that that was a lie as well?

Now, Sarabelle wanted to know what happened at Penn Station, how it all started. Looks like she needed to get her hands on the footage.

* * *

**A/N: Almost to the end. Damn, I had expected to get to at least 20 chapters lol  
**


	14. The Truth

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Pennsylvania Station, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York  
5:53pm  
2010  
(Events of Prototype 2)**

Sarabelle Richards felt almost guilty to doubt Alex the first time around, but upon following James Heller up and down, she discovered that maybe the man he was in love with was not all that he was supposed to be. Facts were contradicting against each other so she wanted the real thing. She decided that maybe the footage from the night of the second outbreak would give her what she needed. Right now, she had a thought that Alex had something to do with it, considering what the true nature of the Whitelight was. It was, perhaps, a long shot, but there was still time… at least, she hoped there was.

The station was basically overrun by Infected, but with the help of three of her Brawlers and a pair of Juggernauts, the station was clearly (for the moment) and she could head to the security room.

She frantically ransacked through their archives, ignoring the multiple screens online, hoping to find the footage from the night of the second outbreak and that Blackwatch hadn't taken it. However, her efforts were only in vain.

"Shit!" She slammed the console in frustration. She glanced up at the many screens and then found something unusual: one of the dates posted on one of the camera was the date of the second outbreak. She also realized that the footage had been paused, and that there was someone on screen, with his back turned to the camera.

Her eyes searched from the play button for that camera, and she hit it.

The person on screen then flexed out Tendril-like arms and a cloud of redness emerged from him, _spreading the infection. _

Sarabelle's breath was escaping from her bit by bit and she gasped in utter horror when the assailant turned around to the camera and flashed a sadistic smile.

Alex Mercer.

She immediately felt sick to her stomach and fell to the ground in distress. She didn't know how to feel at that point. She didn't even know what hurt her the most: the fact that the man she was in love with was the one who started the second infection, or the fact that he had been lying straight to her face all this while.

But the thought of both situations was fueling her with rage, so she made tracks for the abandoned military base they were staying in.

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Red Zone**

Alex Mercer was not a happy man right now. His latest recruit, James Helller, was foiling all of his plans, his latest one being the Whitelight. The man even consumed the Goliath that Mercer had sent to destroy that Whitelight depot! Everything was going wrong right now. He needed to _punish _Heller… but how?

When he entered the abandoned military base, smoke was still emerging from his ears about this whole situation. When he glanced up, he found Sarabelle standing in front of him unexpectedly.

"Whoa! Belle, you kinda scared me there," He said. "You're back. Did you get anything on Heller?"

Without a word at first, Sarabelle took slow steps towards him with a blank look on her face. It was then he realized that they were not the only ones in the base, but he was slowly… getting surrounded by Brawler Hunters, Spiked Brawlers and Juggernants… all loyal to Sarabelle.

"I got more than I bargained for, Alex," She finally spoke, grabbing Mercer's attention once more. "And I don't like it one bit."

He narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, but also kept an eye on the oncoming Brawlers. "Babe, what _are _you talking about? What happened?"

"_You _happened, you lying, cheating, manipulative son of a BITCH!" She suddenly yelled out, morphing both her arms into Whipfists.

"Belle, come on! What did I do?" Mercer questioned.

"I saw the footage from Penn Station,"

Everything suddenly made sense to Mercer.

"And when I followed Heller, I saw what the Whitelight did," If he wanted to, he would have noticed the tears welling up in Sarabelle's eyes, but he was more concerned about his current situation. "And now you're going to pay."

With this newfound anger, she ordered to her Infected allies, "GET HIM!"


	15. Lost in Paradise

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Abandoned Military Base, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York  
5:53pm  
2010  
(Events of Prototype 2)**

"Belle, come on! What did I do?" Mercer questioned.

"I saw the footage from Penn Station,"

Everything suddenly made sense to Mercer.

"And when I followed Heller, I saw what the Whitelight did," If he wanted to, he would have noticed the tears welling up in Sarabelle's eyes, but he was more concerned about his current situation. "And now you're going to pay."

With this newfound anger, she ordered to her Infected allies, "GET HIM!"

In an instant, the Brawlers and Juggernauts attempted to get the jump on him. With quick thinking, Alex Mercer focused all of his energy into a Tendril Devastator attack, taking out Sarabelle's allies fatally. The powerful attack shook the base, but not enough to cause it to give way and collapse on them.

"Belle, stop!" He yelled to her, before getting stuck in the chest by a Whipfist attack. "Belle!"

She struck him again, pushing him backward. "You fucking _bastard_!" She almost screamed. "_YOU _did this!" She struck him once more, this time, bringing him to his knees. "YOU caused the second outbreak! And you lied to me about EVERYTHING!" She extended the Whipfist and swept him away, resulting in Mercer hitting the wall of the base. "There was no cure! There was no 'destroying Gentek and Blackwatch'! NO! Everything was so that you could _infect _the city! And for what?!" Fueled with rage, her Whipfist penetrated the center of his chest and she lifted him a few feet off the ground. "ANSWER ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH!"

Mercer appeared to be trying his best to pry her arm off him. "Belle, please! Don't you know?" A frown suddenly came to his face. "I'm the _Blacklight virus. _So you can't _hope _to defeat me!" So saying, he morphed his left arm into a Blade and sliced her Whipfist.

Sarabelle gasped in pain and pulled her arm away, morphing it back.

"Humanity's gone to _shit_, Belle," Mercer began his little explanation, as he got close to her. "I saw it all. I saw the true side of Humanity, and I saw it in those 14 months. Those 14 months made me realize that Humanity is _not _worth rejoining, Belle. Instead," Suddenly, he clutched her neck and lifted her off the ground. "It made me realize that something could, no – _should_ be done about it. And I'm about to."

She struggled to pry his hand. "The way of… Humanity… is not up to you…!"

He gave her that same devilish smirk as seen from the footage. "Well, we'll just see about that. Just because the Whitelight plan's been disrupted, doesn't mean I don't have other plans. But you, Belle…" He clicked his tongue at her. "Did you have _any _idea how hard it was to keep this all from you? Keep you from meeting the other Evolved? Keep you from the truth? I knew you'd react this way. Which was why I kept you in the dark – I wanted you to see the end result. How _perfect _it would have been."

"Ugh, so what now? You… you'll kill me?! Well you – you can't!" She said in between pauses due to the strong hold he had on her neck. "Because – because I'm _not _like any Evolved! _You _created me! Eh… that… makes me… more like YOU!"

"OOF!" Mercer was then flying through the air and going through the wall of the base, landing outside… all thanks to a Spiked Brawler coming to Sarabelle's recuse and driving its head into Mercer's midsection that sent him flying.

She struggled to catch her breath, but ordered to her concerned Brawler, "Don't worry about me! Just don't let him escape!"

The Spiked Brawler nodded and went after Mercer.

After a moment of solitude, Sarabelle managed to return to her feet and rejoin the fight. She exited the base via the hole created by Mercer's impact and gasped in horror:

Mercer glared at her, with the Spiked Brawler's head in his Claws.

"Bastard." She cursed under her breath.

He tossed the head aside. "You're going to have to do better than that, Belle."

"I INTEND TO, YOU LYING SACK OF SHIT!"

No sooner had she said that, Mercer was sent flying up through the air again due to a Hydra popping up from beneath him. The Hydra, loyal to Sarabelle, used its Tendril attack to grab Mercer and slam him to the ground.

Sarabelle was about to bring her Blade down on him but he quickly rolled out of the way and brandished his own Blade. "You know, I really don't want to do this, Belle!"

"SHUT UP, ALEX!" She brought her Blade down on him, to which he blocked with his own Blade. "Just shut up!"

"For the love of-" Having being sick and tired of this, he kneed her in the gut and morphed one hand into a Hammerfist and sent her flying upward, landing on the rooftop of their base.

The Hydra let go of a loud roar, as if it was a gasp in horror at what had been done to Sarabelle. It wanted to slam down on Mercer but he was wise to that, and jumped out of the way, only to strike fatally at the Hydra. It screamed in agony.

Mercer now needed to focus his attention on Sarabelle and stop her before she would do anything else stupid. He travelled to the stop of the base where he had sent her packing.

All he found was a crack in the concrete where she had landed. No Sarabelle.

He turned his head left, right, up and down frantically, trying to catch her in the act before she would attack.

The next thing he knew, he was face-first on the ground as a result of Sarabelle gliding through the air and giving him a flying kick.

He got back to his feet immediately, scowling at her with annoyance. "Well _now _I understand the 'phantom' in 'Red Phantom'."

But Sarabelle was not to be amused. She morphed both of her arms into Claws and charged for him. Mercer transformed one arm into a Blade to counter her. They fought like that for a while, with blow after blow and Sarabelle's rage keeping her going. But like any other Prototype, Mercer knew her energy had to run out some time.

Sarabelle wasn't even putting any thought into her attacks; she was just attacking blindly and that was not getting her too far. Mercer was more direct and precise with his hits.

Then, Sarabelle made her most crucial mistake: she tried to stab him with her claw but the arm got caught by his free hand. He gripped it tightly and with his Blade, severed her arm. A critical stab by his Blade to her abdomen followed suit.

She grunted in pain and was then tossed aside. She collided with an air vent, and could not get up. At all.

Mercer breathed heavily after that long and intense fight. When he noticed that she struggled to get off the ground, he switched his arms back to normal. "Had enough, Belle?"

She coughed up some blood first before glancing up to look him in the eye and jeer. "Fucker…"

"You brought this upon yourself, Belle," Mercer said, keeping a small distance form her. "God _damn_, why did you have to react like that? Didn't you know who you were up against? Did you honestly _think _you could defeat me?"

"It was… worth a shot," She said. "And now that you've incapacitated me, I can't take my anger out on you. So talk to me. Tell me _why. _Why did you do this. Why did you lie to me and take advantage of me. I wanna know _everything _before you finish me off."

He was (he couldn't lie) a little surprised at her request. But he knew that he couldn't have Sarabelle around anymore; she would only ruin everything. However… that little part of him that made him feel ever so guilty was stopping him from consuming her right there and then.

So he decided to give her what she wanted. "Fine then." He knelt next to her, staring deep into her green eyes and hurt her further with the truth. "You knew of the things I saw during my little soul-searching. Well, that only angered me. It angered me see how selfish and worthless humans really are. I was disgusted to have even _considered _trying to be one of them. Humans were incorrigible. So it made perfect sense to me to try rid the world of this punishment. What this world needed was peace. A system. No war or illness. Or suffering. Think about it, Belle!" He cupped her chin to make her look at him. "Everyone would be the _same_. No one would want to hurt or hate one another. And you and I would be the leaders of it all. But I knew you wouldn't understand my reasoning because you were _so _uptight about the precious humanity and how we are all still human despite our powers. So I lied to you, so that you could see how _perfect _the end result would be."

She had tears in her eyes. With whatever energy she had, she reached up and slapped him across the face. "I… _still _wouldn't have accepted it! Because what you have in mind in complete and utter _bullshit_. It's… ugh, it's just a STUPID fantasy that will _never _work! You're hoping to destroy humanity and created a new species from it but GUESS WHAT, asshole: humanity still constantly breaking down and rebuilding itself. There _is _a system and that system _can't _fail because it's a fucking cycle. You can't hope to break a cycle, Alex. So you're out of luck- AH, God…!" She squealed in pain and turned her head away. "And me. You _used _me. You needed me because of my special ability to control the Infected. All those things you sometimes had me do… it was to aid you and your plans…"

He shrugged his shoulders at her. "Like I said, sorry it had to be this way. I didn't want to hurt you. But you gave me no choice. You were going to kill me."

"And now it's going to be the other way," A tear rolled down. "Fine then. Do it."

Mercer arched an eyebrow at her.

"But do me a favor, Alex… whatever you do? In the end, _please _don't forget yourself. Because Alex Mercer would _never _do such a horrible thing…" So saying, she shut her eyes and waited for the end.

Mercer switched his right arm into a Claw to finish her off, but as his Claw was an inch from her cheek, he stopped. He stopped because he couldn't do it. It was due to the fact that despite everything, he had accidently fallen in love with her. When he returned to Manhattan the second time and met her, he had been lying. But the last 2 months were changing all of that. The way she talked, the way she would look at him, the improvement she had made…

He had accidently found those long lost feelings for her. Shit.

So Mercer decided. He pulled his arm away. "No."

Sarabelle cracked open her eyes.

"No, Belle. I'm not going to kill you." He said, getting up to his feet. "Instead, I'm going to let you live. I want you to see the changes made and how it's going to benefit the world. I want you see all of that and come back to me. But until then, I'm _not _killing you." He began to back away. "Go consume something or you'll die out here. I sure wouldn't want _you _to miss everything."

With that, he leaped off the rooftop of their abandoned military base and disappeared from Sarabelle's sight.

* * *

**A/N: Next up, the last chapter!**


	16. Save Someone From Their Thoughts

**Prototype ****–**** Alex Mercer & Sarabelle Richards ****–**** "Forgetting Yourself"**

* * *

**Location: Gentek Headquarters, Red Zone, Manhattan, New York  
8:17pm  
2010  
(Events of Prototype 2)**

"What the FUCK is this door made off?! ROOKS! OPEN up, you bastard!"

Sarabelle Elaine Richards, having recovered from that brutal battle with the man she had once loved, Alex Mercer, was standing side by side with a Spiked Brawler and a Juggernaut, overlooking the scene going on at Gentek Headquarters. After Mercer left her alone, she managed to gather enough strength to summon at least one Brawler Hunter to take her to safety where she could consume and recover. It took a while, but she managed to return to her full potential and she had one thing on her mind: assist James Heller.

She knew there was no point talking to him. He would only be skeptical. The best was to help him from a distance if needed.

And right now, it appeared as if he needed her help to break open that reinforced door on the main doors of the Gentek building.

"Hm…" Sarabelle pondered hard. How do you break open a door like that? Heller's Hammerfists are working, but not an annoyingly slow speed… but a couple of Hammerfists could do the trick.

So she spun around to her two allies and smirked at the Juggernaut. "See him?" She pointed to Heller. "Attack."

The Juggernaut roared with might and immediately did as ordered. Sarabelle turned her attention back to the destruction going on down there. "The infected creatures kinda have a 'rank'. The leader, followed by his minions. If Heller wants to break open that door, he'll need the combined forces of Juggernauts. But now without the will to control them. To have that… he'll have to consume the _alpha _Juggernaut."

In a short while, Sarabelle's Juggernaut emerged from the ground behind Heller, surprising him. The Juggernaut howled viciously at Heller and charged to attack, but Heller sidestepped and it collided with the reinforced door… and Heller noticed a little crack in it.

"Figure it out, Heller… Come on…" Sarabelle muttered under her breath.

And he did. Heller brandished his Blade, skillfully defeated the Juggernaut and consumed it, quickly summoning a pair to his side. He stopped them with both hands and they obeyed. Then he pointed to the reinforced door and they began to attack it with their fists.

Sarabelle smirked. "You're welcome."

* * *

**Later…**

Sarabelle had waited patiently for Heller to exit the Gentek building, but only to find him angered and running away at high speed. Her best guess was that he was heading to a location, but she wasn't sure where or who he was confronting and or about to kill. So she followed him, trying her best to keep up.

She then realized who he was meeting: Alex Mercer.

They were on the helipad of a building in the middle of Manhattan. Mercer was joined by several other Evolved. Due to the distance she was from them, she could not hear much of the dialogue, but got the best seat in the house.

"WHERE'S MAYA?!"

They were exchanging words, with Heller raging all the way and Mercer giving what appeared to be his explanation in a calm manner, but it only served to infuriate Heller further.

"ENOUGH of your fuckin' weird, fucking rumbling SHIT! GIMME MY DAUGHTER."

Sarabelle got that one loud and clear. "Oh my God. Heller's daughter. Alex has Heller's daughter? But-but why? Oh holy shit," It suddenly hit her. "Alex once told me Heller's DNA was quite resilient. So that means that his kid should also have- Son of a bitch, Alex!" She cursed. "What the FUCK were you up to behind my back?!"

All of a sudden, she was seeing something else going down: Mercer was… was _consuming _his Evolved around. He started with the brunettes next to him, and biomass caught the rest of them in a bind. He was consuming them to be stronger and faster.

"… Oh shit." Sarabelle said.

She watched with dread as Mercer and Heller were locked in an intense battle. Mercer was… strong. Very strong. Sarabelle had never seen him so powerful before. But she knew that Heller was just as powerful; she had been watching him all this time anyway. "Come on, Heller, kick his ass!" She knew that in the heat of the battle, they couldn't hear her, but it was like a wrestling match that you know you've just got to cheer the good guy on.

Then suddenly, using his Whipfist, Mercer caught Heller right in the chest, brought him up high in the air before slamming him down to the ground. Heller was seeing stars at that moment. That gave Mercer the opportunity to glance up… and look at Sarabelle.

Mercer nodded at her and gave her that same sadistic smirk from the footage and from their battle.

She gasped softly. She felt her heart beat fast, and she muttered the next words that she wished he could hear: "Rot in hell, you bastard."

With Mercer distracted, Heller took this chance to counter successfully with using his Blade, and the battle of the Prototypes went on.

But Sarabelle watched with much vigilance, and noticed that Mercer was getting a little reckless with his attacks. Almost like he knew he was losing. Heller was applying great damage while Mercer was mindlessly throwing punches, so to speak.

Then just like Sarabelle had done, Mercer made his own crucial mistake: he tried to penetrate Heller with his Whipfist but Heller caught it and severed it. Mercer tried with all his different weapons, but each time, Heller severed his arms, causing great distress to the first Prototype and Sarabelle knew… that it was coming to an end.

Then, it happened: Mercer on his knees, unable to regenerate any of his weapons… and Heller had his grip on his throat.

Sarabelle took in a deep breath at that sight. "Goodbye, Alex."

* * *

**Later…**

Sarabelle stood on that building where the epic battle between Mercer and Heller went down. She stood right there, surrounded by several Brawlers and Juggernauts, in the center of the helipad and watched as the sun began to arise from a pool of gold and red. Staring at the sun with a saddened expression, she began to reflect.

_So it's over. The main cause of the second outbreak has been dealt with. All that's left now is to clean the city up. Again… _

_But I'm having so much trouble trying to fully accept everything that had happened so far. I'm having a hard time believing one man alone could have caused so much damage. _

_That's because Alex wasn't a man anymore. He had become a monster. _

_But the man who saved my life wasn't a monster. He was human. For that few days we spent together, talking and him teaching me how to use my powers, he was human. _

_Alex had a lot on his mind, true. And perhaps seeing the dark side of humanity for those 14 months wasn't exactly helping him, but he was a smart man, wasn't he? _Why _couldn't he have thought for himself? Why didn't he know that what he had planned was irrational and unrealistic?_

_Was he blinded? Maybe. But was he stupid? Definitely not. _

_Alex knew what he was doing and he let it happen. _

_I'd have to think that this was partially my fault. If I had gone with him like he wanted me to… perhaps I could have saved him. _

_But could I really? How do you save someone from their own thoughts and beliefs based on what they have seen? You can't. They'd have to think for themselves. _

_But in the end, I don't know if this was the plan of Alex himself… or the Goddamn virus. _

_Either way, it's over now. Alex is dead and the city can be safe once again. I should probably get my army here to help me clean up. _

_However… I _am _starting to wonder about this 'Pariah' Alex told me about. Is he still alive? Because of he is, what are the odds that Gentek won't try to use him for something? I know it's been 40 years but…_

_Perhaps I should try to find out what I can and make that my next big mission. _

_Until then, I'm off to clear up the city. And though it sucks to admit, there'll always be a little part of me that still loves Alex, but that was when he was… still human._

* * *

**A/N: Well, the last chapter!  
**

**Thanks to those who stuck with the story! :) Will be posting Belle's bio and story trivia tomorrow :) **


	17. Sarabelle's Bio and Story Trivia

**Name: **Sarabelle Elaine Richards  
**Nickname(s): **Belle, Sara  
**Date of Birth: **May 11, 1982  
**Place of Birth: **Manhattan,New York  
**Eye Colour: **Dark Green  
**Hair Colour: **Dark red  
**Hair Style:** Mid-back with bangs

**Occupation: **Independent Artist

**Codename given by Blackwatch: **Red Phantom

**Powers and Abilities: (Physical Prowess) **Shape-shifting, Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Speed, Superhuman Agility, Superhuman Endurance  
**(Offensive Powers) **Claws, Blade, Tendrils, Whipfist  
**(Utility Powers and other skills) **Consume, Wall running, Glide, Disguise|

**Unique power: **Summon The Infected - The ability to summon any infected, be it human or all known creatures, to her aid.  
**Varieties of the "Summon The Infected" power:  
**1) Summon Brawlers (Both Brawler Hunters and Spiked Brawlers)  
2) Summon Hydras  
3) Summon a Juggernaut Pair  
4) Summon The Flyers (A flock of infected birds)

**Associates: **Alex Mercer (Ex-boyfriend)  
Nicolas Richards (Father)

**Apparel: **Light blue tank top  
Navy blue long-sleeved shrug  
Black jeans  
Heeled knee-high black boots  
Black belt with a silver buckle

* * *

**Story Trivia: **1) Sarabelle's original name was Angelina.

2) Sarabelle was going to actually meet and interact with James Heller, but I wanted to keep it not too close to AU as possible.

3) Alex was supposed to have killed and consumed Sarabelle.

4) Sarabelle's original outfit was not a tank top and shrug, but rather a long sleeved blouse.

5) "Lost in Paradise" by Evanescence and "The Chain" by Shaman's Harvest (original by Fleetwood Mac) were inspirations.

6) There's an extra chapter, meant to be the original Chapter 2, about how Alex proposed to Sarabelle.

7) Sarabelle's original gift wasn't a sketch book, but rather a painting of the two of them. And Alex would have found an A4 size version of it instead.


End file.
